Research

Below is a list of research papers, reports and other publications from Ekklesia dating back to 2004. Click on the title for more information on each publication, and a link through to the item itself where available. You might also like to sign up for our award winning weekly research bulletin which will ensure you are kept up-to-date with the very latest research from Ekklesia.

This short research paper maps out the contours of a revolution in Britain’s benefits and welfare system. But the evidence Karen McAndrew examines and evaluates indicates that, far from enabling and supporting sick and disabled people, the changes and cuts the UK government is making – disguised by a superficial rhetoric of compassion and empowerment, and eased by ungrounded prejudices stoked in sections of the media – are causing real harm and destroying the fabric of national care and genuine opportunity. Putting human impact centre stage, this paper sets out disturbing evidence that disabled people are being betrayed, the public misled, and the welfare system endangered. Here is yet more indication that the 'Big Society' is punishing the most vulnerable and eschewing social justice, by making cuts and implementing an inadequate patchwork of policies whereby under-resourced voluntarism cannot substitute for official, statutory neglect.

In the light of the massive cuts in public services being implemented by central and local government, there is increasing concern in many sectors of society about the expanding and damaging gap between rich and poor in Britain today. This paper sets out the case for making those living with poverty axial in decision-making about issues implicated in this division at all levels of society. It links to recent relevant research and makes a brief contribution concerning questions of power, viewpoint and orientation, mechanism and priority, and belief and theological orientation. To be expanded.

There has been a great deal of wild speculation about the character and consequences of so-called ‘democratic revolutions’ in the Middle East. In this short essay, international relations specialist John Heathershaw, pursuing a historically-grounded power analysis, argues that comparison with post-communist states sheds some light on what is happening and helps us identify both the hope and tragedy in ongoing events - not least from a Christian perspective that seeks to demand justice and practice nonviolence. He also contrasts principled and pragmatic approaches to nonviolent action, and discerns six parallels between the two waves of rebellion.

In this essay, the author gives an overview of some entrenched problems infecting religion and politics in the contemporary Middle East. His chief concerns include the plight and status of historic Christian communities, the treatment of minorities, violence and oppression sanctioned by corrupt regimes and totalitarian religious ideologies, the incohence of strategies towards Israel-Palestine, and the damaging failure of many Western policies and prescriptions. But while being tough-minded about the complex and interrelated factors which entrench these problems, Politics, Religion and the Middle East is also hopeful. The seeds of change are also to be found amidst confusion and terror. Popular movements to challenge top-down political rule and concerted efforts by faith communities to educate their peoples to accept and respect the other, rather than kill or ostracise, are both vital, he says. Above all, the true diversity of the Middle East region needs to be acknowledged, celebrated and protected by law.

In the Annual Constantinople Lecture 2010, sponsored by the Anglican and Eastern Churches Association and promoted by Ekklesia, international ecumenical, political and legal consultant Harry Hagopian addresses the complex historical, political and psychological issues arising from Turkey’s continued denial of the Armenian Genocide 1915-1923, viewing it in relation to the Jewish and Rwandan genocides later that century. He also offers a deeply Christian perspective on the tragedy, seeing the way forward as located not just in political change but as a ‘healing process’ between peoples and nations - something that can be a source of hope for the world and for the benefit of both Armenians and Turks.